Along the Natchez Trace

Sunday, July 31, 2011

The topic for this edition of the Carnival of Genealogy is: Food! Bring your family recipes, stories of picnics, food fights, food allergies, favorite summertime foods you remember, and best of all, photos of family favorite foods. Thanks to Jasia of Creative Gene for hosting this COG. And, thanks to footnoteMaven for the always terrific poster!

Here is the deal, I rather LOVE food. I just don't enjoy shopping for it, or preparing it, or even cleaning up after it is devoured. The simply perfect foods are things like apples, cut into quarters, chow down. Or yogurt, open container, insert spoon, chow down. Nuts work well too, numma numma, chow down. Cheese cubes, ya, another numma numma, chow down.

Now it is not that I am a bad cook, I just don't enjoy the process. I have been told my baked beans are pretty good, ditto for my cheesy scalloped potatoes. I have a recipe that I sorta cobbled together for nachos that I am rather proud of. And, there is the famous family cheese cake recipe passed down from my mother. There are some Christmas cookie recipes that are favorites too, one, again, from my mother, the other from a friend. Both of those involve pecans or walnuts.

But, honestly these days I would rather travel, take photos, write blogs and do family research. Man and I frequently lament that what we need is a wife, one that LOVES to cook. Trouble with that is that we would probably both gain a few pounds, OK, a LOT of pounds. Maybe it is a good thing that I don't cook a lot.

All this said, I do have a favorite food, no, not chocolate, not yogurt (although that is a close second). My fav food has to be peanut butter. Remember that apple, ya, did I mention that it would be smothered in peanut butter? Well, it would be! One of my fav comfort foods when just NOTHING else will do, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Ya, simple, but, I'll bet you have lots of wonderful memories attached to that simple PB & J, from your childhood. Sure ya do!

How 'bout peanut butter pie, second only to cheese cake in my estimation! I used to maintain a running list on what restaurant had the best peanut butter pie - - I loved it that much. Now, I don't mind a little chocolate with it, but, I want more peanut butter than chocolate and I want it to really taste like peanut butter, give me the flavor baby!! Oh, and please, please, please, do not put those mini chocolate chips in there, those horrible little things taste like wax, like totally ruins the pie no matter how creamy and peanut buttery it may be! Nix the chips!

Oh, and have you ever tried peanut butter ice cream topping?? My preference, heavily drizzled over really good vanilla, french vanilla, even better!

Peanut butter on toast, not bad. Better, peanut butter on toasted chocolate chip bagels. Best source of chocolate chip bagels found so far is a little bagel shop in Ann Arbor Michigan. They sell out VERY early in the morning, EVERY morning!

Of course, I am a tried and true fan of Reese peanut butter cups. And, those Easter eggs Reese puts out, that are about 2 inches wide and 3 to 4 inches long and I swear they are 1/2 inch thick. TO DIE FOR!!

Maybe my most favorite use of peanut butter is to add a bit of kick to brownies and s'mores. Yaaa, sounds pretty good eh??? Take a moist brownie, heavy on the chocolate, nuts of choice (or not), and even add some chocolate frosting if you must. Now, add peanut butter. My mad method of managing all this gooey yummy brownie/frosting/peanut butter mess is to turn the brownie over, glob the peanut butter on the backside. Frosting on one side, peanut butter on the other, stand over sink and start munching. Yes, you will require cleaning up afterwards, that's the point of the sink standing!

The s'mores with peanut butter actually was something my brother dreamed up one night around a campfire. We were burning marshmallows for s'mores when he requested peanut butter. I really thought he had gone over the edge, but, he does love his peanut butter. (Must be a family thing, eh?) So, I dug out the peanut butter and sat and watched as he smeared one graham cracker with the PB, and then added the roasted/burnt marshmallow and chocolate and another square of graham cracker. He pronounced it as excellent. I hesitated, asking, "really?" But, I did not hesitate long, made myself one and have never looked back!

Yep, peanut butter rules, oh, and make that smooth if you please, simply smooth, thank you.

** Remember, Reese/Hershey owns the copyright to the name, the product. I have received not one thing from them for mentioning them here in my blog. If they send product later, as a thank you, like that's gonna happen, NOT, but if they do, I am going to enjoy it. They have a web site here, with photos of products, I had to clean the drool off the keyboard.

**** Amish peanut butter, not discussed here, could be an entire post, which Amish community makes the best and which store/restaurant in which Amish community stands out above all the rest. Ya, I have a fav there too!

13 comments:

ROTFLOL! Great post Carol! I never realized how much I missed out on with peanut butter. We were not allowed to have it when we were children. My Irish mother was very suspicious of it, especially given the more than plump proportions of a neighbour, who seemed to eat nothing but PB & J sandwiches. I still remember the first time I bought a jar of peanut butter after I'd moved away from home. I felt as though I was committing a crime, and imagined my mother would find out. I've been playing catch-up over the years, and enjoy it once in a while. Probably still worried Mom will find a jar in my fridge.

Peanut butter is not something that I eat regularly, but it is something I occasionally get a strong craving for - must have a glob of it on top of some good oatmeal bread. The other way I have enjoyed it is as a kind of cake topping - combined with a bit of regular butter and drizzled over a cake - yummm!

Interesting food choice Carol. You are a true lover of peanut butter. I also love PB&J sandwiches, but only if and when it slides down my throat! You have such creative ways to use the product, now go have some peanut butter cups on me!

You are so right! Peanut Butter is the best!When we were walking the streets of Stockholm, I saw a store that specialized in American food but the sign that caught my eye first simply said "peanut butter"

This has to be one of your very best posts, Carol! You had my mouth watering from the title of the post till the footnotes at the end.

I too happen to be a big fan of peanut butter. I don't eat it as often as I'd like (because of the calories) but I have to agree that there is no better way to enjoy a good crisp apple than slathered in peanut butter. A friend turned me on to that culinary delight back in my college days. It's made for many a lunch staple for me over the years.

And you're right about the PB&J as a comfort food too. Been there, done that.

I've never had the pleasure of trying a chocolate chip bagel though. You say there's a good place to get one in A2, eh? Hmmm. Food for thought. ;-)

Thanks for participating in the COG, Carol! And now I'm off for a tablespoon of peanut butter (these days I'm in to Smuckers Natural).

I love peanut butter, too, but most often in the form of Reese's p.b. cups (pretty much daily). The owner of a local restaurant has a great recipe for a peanut butter pie she called "Snickers Pie." It might have too many other ingredients for you but it was a great combination: an oreo crust topped with caramel, then peanuts, then a hefty layer of the peanut butter filling (about 3" high), topped with a drizzle of chocolate. We've tried several recipes hoping to discover one like her p.b. filling but so far, haven't found one to equal it. They sold the building where she rented space and she didn't open elsewhere. We miss that p.b. pie (and everything else on her menu). Thanks for sharing. I'll think of you the next time I eat peanut butter.

Carol, I practically BREATHED Fluffernutter sandwiches in the first and second grade. Those were made (still are, btw) with Marshmallow Fluff and any sort of PB. I had one of those everyday in my Roy Rogers lunchbox until one day I shocked my Mom by asking for PB&J instead!

Best PB I ever had though came in the large institutional cans we used from the USDA at the summer camp I worked as a college student.

What no Drake's Funny Bones? Those chocolate cakes with the fake peanut butter filling. I love those. Processed goodness. I also love Reese Peanut Butter Cups. My son doesn't like peanut butter (Hard to believe I know...), so I snag all of them out of his little trick or treat pumpkin after Halloween. Yum!

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Things I love: Family, Grandchildren, Rving, computers (sometimes, but not when they are being bad), family history, yorkies, techy toys like my iToys, photography.
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